Saturday, November 8, 2014

Fritos Chili Pizza - Papa John's: NJ

Fritos Chili Pizza - Papa John's: NJ

Oh wow, I haven't reviewed a Papa John's pizza since August. It doesn't feel like it's been that long since a new flavor was released, did I miss one?

I've already saidthis (multiple times, I bet you guys are sick of hearing about this) but I haven't enjoyed a limited edition Papa John's pizza since the Double Cheeseburger one. Apparently I was one of the very very few food bloggers who enjoyed that pizza, but ever since, I feel like these new flavors are something I can easily make at home with a few ingredients I already have on hand. (Like that Sweet Chili Chicken or the Greek. Toss feta on a veggie pizza, or some chili sauce and chicken and it's the same exact thing.)

This time Papa Johns is selling a pizza with Fritos on it. Am I a sucker for buying a pizza covered in Fritos? We'll see...

Toppings:

Chili Sauce (instead of tomato)

Ground Beef

Onions

Diced Tomatoes

Cheddar Cheese

Fritos brand Corn Chips

Like the Sweet Chili Chicken and Cheeseburger pizzas, this one replaces the usual Papa John's tomato sauce with something else, in this case chili sauce. Having a different sauce on the pizza vase is something I really like, if I am buying something "limited edition" from Papa John's, I don't want it to be a normal pizza with a table spoon of toppings thrown on top. I mean, I can go buy any topping I want and toss it onto a homemade pizza, or even a frozen one. What I really want to to buy something ready to go that I wouldn't think to create at home, and I don't know about the rest of you, but a chili pizza never crossed my mind.

When it arrived, it looked like a normal pizza with Fritos dumped on top of it, so it might not win any beauty contests, but the taste was really nostalgic. When I was a kid, we would occasionally have tacos for dinner, and my mom used to allow us to build our own. Back then, I used to load mine up with meat, cheese, and sauce. That was it. I was a kid, and veggies were the enemy. (Did a lot of kids do that or was it just me?) So, to me, this pizza tastes like my childhood memories of taco night.

The seasoning for the sauce is more like the Americanized taco seasoning packets than chili, so if you're going into this looking for a real chili flavoring, you'll be disappointed. However, if you go into this hoping for something different from a normal pizza, this is pretty yummy. (At least a lot yummier than I was expecting.) My only real complaint about this pizza would have to be the Fritos. As I ate, I got Fritos everywhere. They just didn't want to stay on that pizza. I had them falling off onto my plate, into my lap, and on the floor. Depending on their placement on the pizza, some were soggy with sauce and stayed put, while others were still crunchy and easily fell off. Also, the moisture from the hot pizza gives all of the crunchy ones a slightly stale texture, so that's something to be aware of, but I didn't find it to be off putting.

This pizza tastes like a kids meal from Taco Bell, and I am happy we ordered it. If Papa John's wanted to up the chili-favor, I would have added more veggies like bell peppers or jalapenos, but that could be my personal preference. I think this is the most enjoyable limited edition Pizza I have had from Papa John's in a while, and surprisingly I would recommend trying it if you liked to eat your tacos veggie-less as a kid.